d soon turned to sinister practices in 1867. The rose as a reaction to the emancipation proclamation as the southern whites wanted to keep their original way of life. The KKK suppressed the blacks to good effect in their early years. They used lynchings and beatings to keep blacks away from the ballot boxes, which the 14th amendment should have guaranteed their access to. The Klan dispersed just seven years after its formation, this would seem to be a sign of failure, however, it is more likely that the Klan had simply achieved all of their goals. They had managed to stop blacks from voting and return them to the plantations via sharecropping. Therefore in their first incarnation the Klan were very instrumental in the suppression of civil rights. When they re-emerged in the 1920's they were less of a factor. This may be because they were no longer simply focused on blacks but included all immigrants and minorities as their victims. The main reason however, is that their tactics were no longer tolerated and accepted like they were in the 19th century. The black civil rights movement had begun to take more shape at this time with its first leaders such as Booker T. Washington and William Du Bois having emerged at the end of the 19th century. These tactics did not so easily dissuade the new civil rights movement and the Klan's objectives were not met and the movement was far stronger, and despite their membership numbers of 2-5 million they did not have
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